Our Americana is a podcast that explores unique small towns across America and examines the stories that impact, cultivate, and challenge community.
Please enjoy the premiere episode of True Crime Bullsh**, which explores American serial killer Israel Keyes, and our relationships with the true crime genre.
www.truecrimebullshit.com
Our Americana is going on hiatus earlier than expected. The show will be back in the spring. In the meantime, I hope you'll check out my new podcast (which I've been working on since 2015): True Crime Bullsh**
This episode was originally released on 9/9/2016. The Berkshires will be discussed quite a bit in next week's two-part episode, so I'm rereleasing it for reference. //
Rural Berkshire County is where the coalescence of agriculture, city weekenders, and a regional currency helped create the farm-to-table movement. In this episode we'll discuss how the hamlet of towns is working to grow from outside money, while protecting its own interests and economy through its own currency.
This episode was originally released on 8/11/2016. Marfa will be discussed quite a bit in next week's two-part episode, so I'm rereleasing it for reference. //
What happens when the town you live in, your home, your culture, your community, becomes a trend? And then, what happens when people declare that trend dead? This week we go to the tiny West Texas art mecca, in the middle of nowhere, to find out.
A man ahead of his time, built an entire town around the timber industry. A century later, the town is building itself around and in support of a local nuisance. Finding comedy in stress, it turns out, has been a decades-long tradition in Longview, Washington. Plus, the best way to survive a volcano eruption; and how fun, industry, and ecology can thrive in symbiosis.
To learn more or sponsor the show: www.ouramericanapodcast.com
Written, edited, and produced by Josh Hallmark
Research by Vanessa York
Guest: Patrick Kubin
Music by Borrtex, Podington Bear, Broke for Free, Cheribum / Courtesy of Free Music Archive
Sponsors: Podbean
A four-person support group, for parents of children with autism, inspires an entire community to become Canada's first Autism-Friendly Town.
To learn more or sponsor the show: www.ouramericanapodcast.com
Written, edited, and produced by Josh Hallmark
Guests: Joan Chaisson, Cathy Lomond, Cindy Goudie-LaPolla, Wanda Merrigan, Candace Matthews
Featuring "Welcome Home, Son" by Radical Face
Other music by Lee Rosevere, Borrtex, Scott Holmes, Chris Zabriskie / Courtesy of Free Music Archive
Sponsors: Podbean
In this collaboration with The Story Behind podcast, we explore the story behind Roadside Attractions. We take a look at how three Roadside Attractions have impacted and been impacted by community: including the world's largest beagle, the world's (former) largest cherry pie pan, and the Unclaimed Baggage Center (a museum of lost luggage).
To learn more or sponsor the show: www.ouramericanapodcast.com
Written, edited, and produced by Josh Hallmark & Emily Prokop
Music by Utidur, Mike Durek, and Ryan Andersen / Courtesy of Free Music Archive
Sponsors: Podbean
When a rural town's only high school is in jeopardy, the community comes together to change it in some very radical ways. And then the school, in turn, changes the community.
To learn more or sponsor the show: www.ouramericanapodcast.com
Written, edited, and produced by Josh Hallmark
Other music by Jon Luc Hefferman, Kai Engel, Mike Durek, Squire Tuck, Broke for Free, David Hilowitz, and Lee Rosevere / Courtesy of Free Music Archive
Sponsors: Podbean, Blue Sky Vacations
A tornado forever changes the rural town of Greensburg in the most unexpected way. And we separate ideas and movements from the constraints of politics.
To learn more or sponsor the show: www.ouramericanapodcast.com
Written, edited, and produced by Josh Hallmark
Research Assistance by Torey Griffith
Music by Saito, Chris Zabriskie, Kai Engel, David Mumford, Lee Rosevere, Idmonster / Courtesy of Free Music Archive Podcast Promo: Pretend Radio
Sponsors: Podbean
A rural town, known as The Troll Capital of the World, unites over the attemped banning of a book reading and its very close-to-home consequences.
To learn more or sponsor the show: www.ouramericanapodcast.com
Written, edited, and produced by Josh Hallmark
Research by Vanessa York, Nicola Jezequel, Shannon DeFilippas, Jennifer Menges
Guests: JoEllen Graber, Amy Lyle, and Sarah
Library recordings from: Carly Fisher, Jane Burns, and Julie Plotkin
Featuring "Legend of the Wild Horse" by Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton
Other music by Lee Rosevere, Borrtex, Ketsa, Derek Clegg, Chris Zabriskie / Courtesy of Free Music Archive
Sponsors: Podbean
Our Americana returns tomorrow, with 12 new stories about community in Small Town America. #FindYourPlace in America.
REBROADCAST: Josh recounts his personal survival story from a sexual assault that resulted in contracting HIV. It highlights America's complicated relationship with both sexual assault and health care.
It seemed an appropriate time to rebroadcast. Listener warning advised.
We close off season 3 with updates. Updates on past guests, updates on Josh, and previews for his other podcasts.
Updates on:
Benny - Salem , Oregon
Brit Webb - Marfa, Texas
Rosie & Kate - Chincoteague, Virginia
Rabia & Jenn - City Island, New York
Eugene Amos - Gold River, British Columbia
Previews for Josh's other shows:
PLAYLIST, Season 1
The Karen & Ellen Letters, Season 2
We head to South Florida to take a very candid look at the struggles of drug addiction and recovery through the lens of a listener.
Music by: El Perro del Mar, Chris Zabriskie, Lee Rosevere, and Freya Ridings
In our final celebration of other podcasts, we talk Detroit with Nina Innsted, Bakersfield with Chris Braaten, and Philly with Deana Marie.
Music by: Custodian of Records, Zachary Wilson, Ryan Little, Audiobinger, and Cloudjumper
Our Americana continues celebrating its first birthday by honoring podcasting. In the second of a three part series with various podcasters, Josh sits down with Jeremy Collins (Podcasts We Listen To) and Holly Hall (The Most Wonderful Wonder) to talk about the strange transition from New Orleans to Casper, Wyoming; and how a country band with a love of dark history created one of the most unique podcasts out there.
Music by: Welcome Little Stranger David Szesztay Kosta T Hyson Charles Atlas Vi-Fi
Our Americana celebrates its first birthday by honoring podcasting the best way we know how: through origin and community. In the first of a three part series with various podcasters, Josh sits down with Steven Pappas of the Is This Adulting? podcast to talk very candidly about his North Carolina upbringing, mental health, religion, evolving ideology, and what it means to be a progressive southern boy.
Music by: Dave Depper, Will Bangs, Milky-Chu, Jon Watts, Johnny_Ripper, and Evgeny Grinko
Hot off the heels of #VanLife, we stick to the open road and explore American Roadside Attractions. Manatees, vacuums, Big Fish, and some listener stories.
Music by: Drake Stafford, Broke For Free, Three Chain Links, Maxim Kornyshev, Will Bangs, and Cloudjumper
Josh catches up with the four #VanLifers who he chatted with last July. Jennifer and Josh talk about the privilege of experience. Alex finds solace and liberation in a disconnected life. And we find out whether Giddi and Jace made it back out onto the road after having their baby.
Sponsor the show: www.patreon.com/ouramericana www.paypal.me/ouramericana
A rebroadcast of S02|E05 and a primer for this week's forthcoming episode.
Seth tries to uncover how exactly the epidemics began and continue to occur. Jesse comes through recovery and starts the long road to creating a new life for himself. Holli, once a beacon for hope in Austin, struggles with the intersections of religion, media, and welfare; and then ultimately loses hope, herself.
Sponsor the show at www.Patreon.com/OurAmericana -or- www.PayPal.com/me/OurAmericana
We pause the story in Austin, to talk more personally about HIV.
Music by Chris Zabriskie & Luke Pigott.
Sponsor the show at www.Patreon.com/OurAmericana -or- www.PayPal.com/me/OurAmericana
In a small, rural Indiana town, what started as a drug epidemic became an HIV crisis. Government, religion, public health, the community, and the media coalesce in their various attempts to help a town in peril.
In a town with no radio or cellular waves, with no wifi or cable, life is wonderfully quiet. We examine our strange relationships with technology and meet a woman who suffers from electromagnetic sensitivity so bad, she spent a year living in a Faraday cage.
To learn more or sponsor the show: www.ouramericanapodcast.com
In a rural Iowa town rooted in Transcendental Meditation and home to the microcommunity movement, community-building and intention have been redefined.
A northern Minnesota town, struggling to find its economic identity, gets a little help from an unlikely resident and his uncanny routine. Plus, turtle racing.
To learn more or sponsor the show: www.ouramericanapodcast.com
(Original Broadcast: 11/25/16) In 2013, hundred dollar bills started mysteriously appearing throughout Salem, Oregon; in diaper boxes, tip cups, people's cars. This is the story of the mysterious person hiding them, and how their generosity became contagious.
Take a minute (or seven) to check out the newest podcast to join the Our Americana Podcast Network:
The Karen & Ellen Letters are found correspondence between two teenage girls and their landlord, over a three year period, from the '80s. This podcast is the reading of those letters and a re-telling of my journey to validate their authenticity. Plus, a weekly roundtable of guest commentators.
www.karenandellen.com
"America is what happens when a community comes together to overcome what feels insurmountable."
Our Americana returns on February 28 with 13 episodes over 14 weeks: 9 new towns, roadside attractions, a follow-up on #VanLife, and an update episode.
(Original broadcast: 9/22/16) This episode concludes the story of Luna the Whale and his time in Gold River. The town comes together to save Luna, and the town struggles in the wake of his absence and the lessons learned.